By noon, it was almost the afternoon. Students living in the city had returned home. Students in the school were gathered in the classroom doing homework, with a large number of people. Zhao Bei didn’t dare to rush out, just sitting in his original seat.
Jia Xu said, “You help me prepare for the final exam’s roll.”
Zhao Bei reluctantly responded, “It’s useless. You can’t do it!”
“You can do it!” Summer didn’t hesitate to doubt, “You’ve always been the team leader, so you must be the best. You can help me, and then you can score just a bit better than me.”
“You’re terrible!” Zhao Bei’s voice was a bit hoarse.
Jia Xu continued to talk to himself, “You don’t want to run out, I’ll tell you, if you don’t help me, I’ll smear your buttocks!”
Zhao Bei started to cry, Summer said, “If you respond, I’ll give you a verdict. Look, I’ll tear your clothes, we’ll swap, you wear my good clothes, I’ll wear torn clothes, and go out now, let the whole class laugh, okay?”
Zhao Bei didn’t plan to reason with Summer.
“You’re bullying me alone, so if you don’t help me, I’ll never let you go!” Summer spoke more seriously, pushing Zhao Bei, “Come, let’s swap clothes.”
They sat in the last row, swapping clothes was quite convenient. Zhao Bei also appreciated this suggestion. Summer carefully said, “Even the short clothes have been swapped, look at your classroom is all broken.”
Zhao Bei had no idea that Summer actually tore open his clothes and was shaking to walk out.
The classmates’ loud laughter seemed to shake the sky. Jia Xu walked outside as if nothing had happened, even quickening his pace. Just then, the female student carrying a schoolbag walked in from the door.
Yue Ruoyi’s hairpin was on her head, with a red thread tied to it, wearing a white-based golden flower head covering, a white top with a turquoise collar, and below was a turquoise floral skirt and white socks. When she looked up at her face, it seemed quite curious. After wiping her sweat and then slowly turning back to look, she laughed upon seeing this.
It was impossible for Ruoyi not to look back. When she turned her head, Gao Bei’s laughter was already in place. Her laugh was different from all the girls in her class, even different from all the girls of the same age. Gao Bei’s gaze swept from top to bottom over Ruoyi, her eyes finally stopping at the spot that triggered the entire class’s laughter. At that moment, she suddenly became aware that her behavior today was personal.
Ruoyi fled in embarrassment.
In the third row of the third grade (lower section).
Ruoyi gave Gao Bei two days. Gao Bei had no way to handle Ruoyi’s request. After school, she followed Gao Bei, and after Gao Bei noticed her, she began to play, but she was faster than him. After catching up with Gao Bei, she pushed him into the roadside water pit.
Although the water was not deep, for an eight-year-old child, it was deep enough. Gao Bei couldn’t swim and didn’t know how to struggle. Summer was chewing on an unknown grass, sitting by the side watching.
At dusk, the long-unsettled clouds were dyed crimson by the light, with no birds or human sounds, the world seemingly silent and red, the pond water clear and bright, even more desolate. It was quiet, like the last day of transmission. The only clear sound was Gao Bei splashing water, the water surface chaotic, distant places still smooth like a mirror.
Gao Bei’s shrinking bubbles became smaller, Ruoyi jumped down to drag him to the shore, but didn’t pull him up. Gao Bei was like a crab vomiting bubbles.
“You dare to drown me!” Gao Bei shouted.
Ruoyi retorted: “Why kill you! Who doesn’t know that living is harder!”
Gao Bei said: “You can talk! Living is clearly better than being dead!”
Ruoyi laughed haha: “Then let me drown you!”
Gao Bei didn’t respond, nor did he think back. He needed all his strength to swim and breathe. The water was far from being as poetic as imagined, with a raw breath of grass oil and unknown black insects everywhere. Gao Bei vomited while drinking, the hot spit spreading quickly into the cold, a feeling he had never experienced in his eight years of life, so-called life and death was probably just like this.
Ruoyi said: “My father won’t blame me. If I can’t think of the first three names of milk, he won’t blame me either, so I’ll go to your house for dinner.”
Gao Bei grabbed Ruoyi’s collar, hanging on Summer’s raft. The raft was full of mud, but Gao Bei had no choice. If not, he would only continue to sink.
Gao Bei said: “Ah Mei’s milk won’t help you. She won’t.”
Ruoyi grabbed the grass and pressed Gao Bei’s head: “Then we’ll negotiate, you go to her, I’ll go to your house.”
Gao Bei looked at Ruoyi’s expression, Ruoyi pressed Gao Bei’s body downward, Gao Bei couldn’t resist, standing up and pointing, shouting: “Just one time!”
Ruoyi said: “Who likes the second time.”
Gao Bei had tried the entire set and written a standard answer sheet the night before the final exam. He met Summer by the water pit. Summer was very excited about the answer sheet, but Gao Bei said: “Math is fine, how will you write the essay? You don’t even recognize characters, can you recite it, and there’s also listening that you wrote into what.”
Ruoyi lowered her head and sighed, Gao Bei wondered what he was thinking, and quickly said: “Teacher Wang monitors the exam very strictly!”
Ruoyi said “Oh” and carefully looked at the answer sheet, saying in her mouth: “I’m very grateful to you. Tonight I’ll go back and memorize it, it’s not too much, even if it’s drawn, I can remember it.”
Gao Bei predicted the reply, Summer asked anxiously: “Can I get first place with these I’ve written?”
Gao Bei nodded. Shouting and saying: “I’ve compiled everything in order, be sure not to make a mistake! Otherwise, it’ll all be wrong!
In the summer before the results were announced, he ranked second in the class and found the third place. This result was unexpected, and he had never heard of the first-place name.
After Wang Laoshi finished the summer vacation assignment, the principal walked in, holding several reports in his hand, standing at the podium, smiling and looking in the direction of Jia and the third-place student, saying, “Your class is excellent this time. Why? Because the top three students are all in your class! The second-place student is the new classmate Jia, and the third-place student is from the North. Jia’s classmate has worked hard! This is quite impressive! As for the first-place student, he was originally supposed to transfer here this semester, but because his father’s work was not fully completed, he had to borrow. His father was very strict with him, so I specially allowed him to make up the exam, unexpectedly achieving such ideal results. The summer vacation is about to begin, and this new classmate will be introduced to everyone another day! He will also be a familiar class leader and team leader to everyone. Finally, I wish everyone a happy summer vacation! See you next year!”
Jia didn’t want to wait until the new semester to meet again. He felt the situation was serious and anxiously asked the third-place student: “What does the father of that new guy do?”
“He’s from Beijing, some kind of specialist. I’m not quite clear, maybe in the military. Don’t you know? There are several large military factories near the mountain. I’ve been there.”
“Are people from Beijing very capable?”
“Of course! It’s all elites there!”
Jia thought for a moment, left the school, arrived at the transmission room at the school gate, first turned on the radio, and then rummaged through the pile of newspapers on the desk.
The old driver didn’t know what he was looking for and said, “These are all ordered by the principal, he’ll come back to collect them.”
